Fawn taken from Arizona desert, wildlife agency takes over care

PHOENIX — Arizona wildlife officials said they will have to send a newborn fawn to live in captivity after it was taken from the desert by someone who likely thought its mother had left it.

State Game and Fish posted a video to Facebook and YouTube on Monday of the 3-day-old deer.

Staffers fed and cleaned the animal, which they said will never be able to return to the wild.

Newborn deer have almost no odor, which keeps them undetectable to predators. Mothers often leave their fawns alone for long periods to find food but they are not known to abandon them and often are close by.

Baby wildlife animals should be left alone, the agency said.

Mike Demlong, a spokesman for department, said a man found the fawn, thought it was abandoned and brought it to a bar to see if anybody else wanted to take it home.

Demlong said since the man was a stranger to bar regulars that an investigation was unlikely.

The agency said caring for an orphaned, ailing or injured animal sometimes costs the Wildlife Center as much as $5,000.